NUMBER 147 FEBRUARY 2019 Quaternary Newsletter A publication of the Quaternary Research Association Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 147 February 2019 i QUATERNARY NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Dr A. Stone Geography, School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester, Arthur Lewis Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PL (e-mail: [email protected]) Instructions to authors Quaternary Newsletter is issued in February, June and October. Articles, reviews, notices of forthcoming meetings, news of personal and joint research projects etc. are invited and should be sent to the Editor. Closing dates for submission of copy (news, notices, reports etc.) for the relevant numbers are 5th January, 1st May and 1st September. These dates will be strictly adhered to in order to expedite publication. Articles must be submitted at least 6 weeks before these dates in order to be reviewed and revised in time for the next issue of QN, otherwise they may appear in a subsequent issue. 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The reports should not (1) detail the aims and objectives of affiliated and larger projects (e.g. PhD topics), (2) outline future research and (3) cite lengthy reference lists. No more than one figure per report is necessary. Recipients of awards who have written reports are encouraged to submit full-length articles on related or larger research projects NB: Updated guidelines on the formatting of contributions are now available via the QRA webpage and from the editor. © Quaternary Research Association, London 2019. Argraff/Printed by: Gwasg Ffrancon Press BETHESDA Gwynedd, North Wales Tel: 01248 601669 Fax: 01248 602634.­­ All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any storage system, without permission in writing from the publishers. COVER PHOTOGRAPH Edge of raised peat at Flanders Moss, Glensaugh, Scotland (see Davies, QRF report inside this issue) (photo credit Althea Davies). ii Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 147 February 2019 SPOTLIGHT ON A SITE QRA50: TOP 50(80) QUATERNARY SITES – SPOTLIGHT ON A SITE: WEST RUNTON TO SHERINGHAM, COASTAL CLIFF SECTIONS, NORTH NORFOLK, ENGLAND. Happy New Year to all! At the start of 2019 we wish congratulations to Phil Gibbard for his honorary membership of the QRA and also have a write up of his retirement symposium. For this reason, let’s visit the site for which some of Phil’s work is cited in the QRA TOP 50(80) sites collection. This is the cliff sections in North Norfolk from West Runton to Sheringham, nominated by Emrys Phillips and Jane Hart. Here is a summary of the entry from Silva and Phillip (2015, p103-105-77): • West Runton is the stratotype for the early Middle Pleistocene ‘Cromerian’ interglacial stage (containing the West Runton elephant and the West Runton Freshwater Bed). • It also contains a spectacular array of highly-deformed preglacial and glacial sediments, and there are controversies surrounding the mechanism of its deformation (subaqeous slide and debris flows, or subglacial deformation). • The section between West Runton and Sherringham contains for key lithological units: (i) a grey, massive to moderately foliated Happisburgh Till Member variably exposed at the base of the cliff; (ii) this is overlain by the highly folded and foliated, brown, Bacton Green Till; (iii) at the top of the succession are the outwash sands and gravels; and (iv) a glacitectonic mélange derived from both the Bacton Green Till and outwash sands and gravels. • Below the glacitectonised sequence, in a structural sense, are the essentially undeformed, preglacial shallow marine sediments of the Wroxham Crag Formation, exposed towards the eastern end of the section, and underlying chalk bedrock that crops out along the foreshore. References (and key sources for the site) Banham, P.H. (1975). Glacitectonic structures: a general discussion with particular reference to the contorted drift of Norfolk. In Wright, A.E., Moseley, F. (eds). Ice Ages: Ancient and Modern. Seel House Press, Liverpool. pp 69-94. Banham, P.H. (1977). In: R. G. West (ed) East Anglia, X INQUA Congress Excursion Guide. Geoabstracts, Norwich, England. Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 147 February 2019 1 Banham, P.H. (1988). Polyphase glacitectonic deformation in the Contorted Drift of Norfolk. In: Croot (Ed). Glaciotectonics: Forms and Processes. Balkema, Rotterdam. Pp 27- 32. Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.H., Whiteman, C.A. 1991. The glacial deposits of northwest Norfolk. In Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P. L., Rose, J. (Eds). Glacial Deposits of Great Britain and Ireland. Balkema, Rotterdam, 223-232. Hart, J.K., Hindmarsh, R.C.A., Boulton, G.S. (1990). Different styles of subglacial deformation in the context of the Anglian ice sheet. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 15, 227-241. Hart, J.K. and Boulton, G.S. (1991a). The interrelationship between glaciotectonic deformation and glaciodeposition. Quaternary Science Reviews, 10, 335-350. Phillips, E.R., Lee, J.R., Burke, H.F. (2008). Progressive proglacial to subglacial deformation and syntectonic sedimentation at the margins of the Mid-Pleistocene British ice sheet: evidence from north Norfolk, UK. Quaternary Science Reviews. 27, 1848–1871. Reid, C. (1882). The Geology of the country around Cromer. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of England and Wales. Roberts, D.A., Hart, J.K. (2005). The deforming bed characteristics of a stratified till assemblage in north East Anglia, UK: investigating controls on sediment rheology and strain signatures. Quaternary Science Reviews, 24 (1-2), 123-140. Stuart, A. J., Lister, A. M. (2010). Introduction: The West Runton Freshwater Bed and the West Runton Mammoth. Quaternary International, 228, 1-7. Waller, R., Phillips, E.R, Murton, J., Lee, J.R., Whiteman, C. (2011). Sand intraclasts as evidence of subglacial deformation of Middle Pleistocene permafrost, north Norfolk, UK. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30, 3481-3500. Kerney, M.P. (1965). Weichselian deposits on the Isle of Thanet, east Kent. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 76, 269–274. 2 Quaternary Newsletter Vol. 147 February 2019 OBITUARY CHALMERS MOYES CLAPPERTON (1938-2018) Chalmers Clapperton, Professor of Geography at the University of Aberdeen, died on 23rd October, 2018. Chalmers was a researcher and university teacher known internationally for his insights into Quaternary glacier fluctuations and their relationship to past environmental and climate changes. In 1951-1957 Chalmers was a top scholar at Hawick High School and he captained the Scottish Schools rugby team. His undergraduate years in the Department of Geography, University of Edinburgh, saw him win prizes in every year in both geology and geography and culminated in a First Class Degree in 1961. He started his research career with a PhD supervised by Brian Sissons at the University of Edinburgh on ‘The Deglaciation of the East Cheviot Hills’. Moving to the Department of Geography in Aberdeen, his research continued within Scotland but extended to include study of glacier changes in Iceland, Svalbard, the Falkland Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula and the sub-Antarctic islands of South Georgia and South Shetland Islands. Further outstanding contributions came from his work in South America where he studied high-elevation glaciers in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador and how these have changed in extent in response to climate change and volcanic eruptions, a topic of keen interest to surrounding populations dependent on the glaciers for water. Chalmers was also well known for his work in Patagonia, where he sought to understand how glacier histories at different latitudes could be linked to latitudinal migration of the Southern Westerlies. Chalmers was promoted to Professor in 1992. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1992 and was awarded the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s President’s award in 1992, the Mungo Park Medal in 1997 and the Centenary Medal in 1999. Chalmers was renowned for his skill as a fieldworker who made new discoveries and also for his ability to place them in their wider context. This is borne out in the large number of publications producing the first geomorphological maps of new areas, whether they are in Scotland, Iceland, Svalbard, South Georgia, the Antarctic Peninsula or in many locations in South America. Invariably, the maps are detailed, perceptive, integrated with sedimentary evidence and have proved to be the building blocks for further research. The second major feature of Chalmers’ work was his ability to synthesise and link glacier changes to wider environmental changes in vegetation and climate. He brought an adventurous mind to bear